Homicides are most often committed with guns Essay

Homicides are most often committed with guns - Essay Example It was established that the person had chosen the handgun to wield power, because of its availability and ease of access. Although, most of the firearms owned by the people are long guns, all the same, most homicides are committed with handguns, rather than long guns. Handguns are the most preferred weapons in homicides and homicide and handgun ownership are associated with each other. A study conducted in Seattle and Vancouver revealed that handguns are frequently used in homicides. These two cities have similar demographic characteristics, but the number of handguns owned in Seattle, is much higher than that in Vancouver. Not surprisingly, the chances of being killed are five times more in Seattle than in Vancouver. Per se, owning a handgun is very common in the US (Iadicola & Shupe, 2003. Pp. 106 – 107). Handgun ownership has been on the increase, since 1960. The reasons for this trend had been identified as rapid urbanization, increase in new households and wealth. People who already owned guns had purchased even more guns. In addition, several people had chosen to own guns in response to the growing crime in the society. In many incidents, people who previously did not have guns had purchased guns to feel secure from crime. Thus, a higher number of handguns were purchased for self – defense reasons. Some argue that there is a positive association between gun ownership and crime rates. Interestingly, the crime rates had a greater influence on the increase in gun ownership, whereas the latter had not influenced the former in any way (Kleck, 1991). On the other hand, long guns are owned for recreational purposes by most of their owners. They are seldom used in crimes. Handgun ownership has increased rapidly, and this has brought about an increase in crime rate. The increase in such ownership was found to be less among the public, who were nonviolent and non-criminals. Moreover, criminals and violent people were unreported and unrepresented in surveys